Thailand Retirement Visa Requirements

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A Thailand retirement visa is for an applicant who is at least 50 on the day the file is submitted and who will not work in Thailand. The money test, on the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington long-stay page updated 1 September 2026, is a bank deposit of at least 800,000 baht, monthly income of at least 65,000 baht, or the two combined to at least 800,000 baht over a year. That one-year O-A costs $200, and the same page asks Americans to upload either an ending balance of at least $30,000 or income of at least $2,500 a month.

The decision is which visa you buy, which bank has to hold the cash, and how you prove income after the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok stopped notarizing income affidavits. A parked deposit is a different hurdle from a monthly budget, which is the comparison in how much it takes to retire in Mexico.

Which Thailand retirement visa are you applying for?

Three products get called a retirement visa, and they do not buy the same stay. The Thailand e-Visa retirement category is for a foreigner aged 50 or older who wants to stay no longer than 90 days. It is single entry, the visa is valid for 3 months, and the financial evidence is monthly income of at least 65,000 baht or a current balance of at least 800,000 baht, from any bank's statements for the last three months or from proof of earnings.

The Non-Immigrant O-A is the one-year stay, priced at $200 on Washington's page updated 1 September 2026. The Non-Immigrant O-X is the large-deposit visa: the Washington page of the same date charges $400, describes 5 years at a time toward a total of 10 years, and includes the United States among the eligible nationalities. The Los Angeles consulate page updated 1 October 2026 prices a single-entry Non-O at $80, a multiple-entry Non-O at $200, the O-A at $200, and the O-X at $400. All three say employment of any kind is strictly prohibited.

Visa	Stay you are buying	Fee at these US posts	Money test	Health policy
Non-O retirement	90 days. E-Visa: single entry, visa valid 3 months.	$80 single or $200 multiple, Los Angeles, 1 Oct 2026	800,000 baht, or 65,000 baht a month	Not listed on the e-Visa retirement page
Non-O-A	Up to 1 year	$200	800,000 baht for the last 3 months, or 65,000 baht a month, or both totaling 800,000 baht in a year	3,000,000 baht or $100,000 per policy year, including COVID-19
Non-O-X	5 years each entry, described as 10 years in total	$400	3,000,000 baht in a Thai bank for at least 1 year, or 1,800,000 baht plus 1,200,000 baht of annual income, then 3,000,000 baht within a year	Thai insurer only. The same page lists two benefit tests.

Pick the stay before you wire anything

Use the 90-day Non-O when you want to enter, open a Thai account, and extend inside the country. Use the O-A when you want the one-year stay from the start and you can buy the policy. Use the O-X only if you will leave 3 million baht in a Thai bank. If you need to work, stop. These visas forbid employment. The work-eligible route is a different product, covered in the Thailand LTR visa guide.

Do you need 800,000 baht in a Thai bank?

You need 800,000 baht or 65,000 baht a month, but the bank does not have to be Thai when you apply from the United States. Washington's O-A checklist asks for three months of statements and an ending balance of at least $30,000, or income of at least $2,500 a month. The e-Visa page accepts any bank, or proof of earnings. The Thai-bank rule appears when you extend inside Thailand, and it appears immediately on the O-X, which requires the deposit in a Thai bank.

The Immigration Bureau's extension criteria limit each permission to one year. You must already hold a Non-Immigrant visa and be 50 or older. The deposit option is at least 800,000 baht in a commercial bank in Thailand for at least two months before the filing date and for three months after permission. After those three months the balance can fall, but not below 400,000 baht. Income is at least 65,000 baht a month. The mix is annual income plus a Thai deposit totaling at least 800,000 baht on the filing date, with the same later-withdrawal rule. The extension form is TM.7.

Two months on the bureau page, three at some offices

Samut Prakan Immigration's list asks for a Thai bank letter showing more than 800,000 baht for three months before the application, plus an ATM slip on the day you file. That is stricter than the bureau's two months before filing. If you do not yet know the office, season the account for three months.

Can Americans prove the 65,000 baht income test?

The income test is real. The letter Americans used to carry is not. The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok and the Consulate General in Chiang Mai do not notarize income affidavits for any purpose. The embassy FAQ says that, beginning 1 January 2019, they stopped issuing that form and will not notarize old copies, and that they cannot verify income from any source, including US government benefits. An embassy letter dated 29 February 2024 says Thai Immigration would no longer request self-sworn affidavits for visa purposes nationwide.

Washington still accepts an income certificate of at least 65,000 baht a month, and the e-Visa page still accepts proof of earnings. What changed is the trip to Bangkok for a stamp the embassy will not give. The embassy's note for Americans still describes a pension or other regular income from outside Thailand of at least the equivalent of 65,000 baht a month, or 800,000 baht in a Thai bank shown again at each renewal. Samut Prakan's list still says the income or pension must be certified by the embassy or consulate in Thailand. If your office asks for that stamp, the deposit test is the path that does not depend on it.

Say you are 63, you will not work in Thailand, and pension statements show $2,600 a month in your name. That clears the $2,500 upload line in Washington and Los Angeles. It does not produce an affidavit. You can submit the pension records with the visa and see if that post accepts them. For the extension, plan on the Thai deposit unless the office that covers your address has told you in writing what income evidence it takes without an embassy stamp. Have the 800,000 baht in that Thai bank at least two months before you file, or three months if you are matching the stricter provincial list.

As of October 2026: the affidavit stop dates from 1 January 2019, and the letter on self-sworn affidavits is dated 29 February 2024. A local office can still ask for a document the capital no longer issues.

When does the $100,000 insurance rule apply?

The large policy is an O-A and O-X requirement, not a line on the 90-day e-Visa page. Washington's O-A rule, effective 1 October 2021, requires cover for the whole stay, including COVID-19, of at least 3,000,000 baht or $100,000 per policy year. A foreign insurer must complete, sign, and stamp the Foreign Insurance Certificate. A Thai insurer must be on the list at longstay.tgia.org. The bureau's extension criteria attach that insurance test only to someone who was granted a Non-Immigrant O-A. A person who entered on a plain Non-O is not given that test in the bureau text.

If an insurer refuses the O-A policy, the bureau allows a backup of at least 3,000,000 baht in a Thai bank for two months before filing, or a Thai deposit plus other insurance totaling 3,000,000 baht, with written proof of the refusal. That backup sits on top of the 800,000 baht test. It does not replace it.

Medicare usually does not pay for health care outside the United States, and in most cases you pay the full cost. Publication 11037 counts everywhere outside the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the US territories as outside the United States, so ordinary care on a Thai retirement stay is in that gap. The limited foreign-hospital exceptions are too narrow to be the health plan for a year of residence.

The O-X page lists two insurance tests

Washington's O-X page requires a Thai insurer, then prints two standards. One is a sum insured of at least 3,000,000 baht or $100,000 per policy year, including COVID-19. The other, effective 31 October 2019, is an outpatient benefit of at least 40,000 baht and an inpatient benefit of at least 400,000 baht, and it says a foreign policy is not enough. Ask the insurer which line the e-Visa officer checks, and keep both figures in the email. The cash side is a deposit of 3 million baht maintained for at least one year after the visa is issued, or 1.8 million baht plus annual income of 1.2 million baht, with the Thai balance brought up to 3 million within a year of arrival.

How do you apply from the United States?

File on the official e-Visa site. The embassy pages say the fee is non-refundable. Washington wants O-A files at least 20 working days before travel and O-X files at least 30. Los Angeles says at least 15 working days for the O-A, and a minimum of 15 business days to process. Use the longer clock if you are not sure which post will open the file.

1. Confirm you will be 50 on the submission day and that you will not work in Thailand on this visa.
2. Match the passport line to the visa. O-A and O-X lists say the passport must be valid within 18 months from the travel date. The Los Angeles Non-O section asks for at least 6 months.
3. Order an FBI identity-history certificate dated within three months. An online record without an authorized signature is not accepted on these lists.
4. Complete the embassy medical form within three months, signed and stamped, covering the prohibitive diseases in Ministerial Regulation No. 14: leprosy, tuberculosis, drug addiction, elephantiasis, and the third phase of syphilis.
5. For a later deposit extension, open the Thai account in time for three months of seasoning. For an O-A filed from the US, gather three months of statements showing at least $30,000, or income of at least $2,500 a month, plus a bank guarantee letter if the post asks.
6. For an O-A, buy the policy for the whole stay and get the foreign certificate stamped if the insurer is not Thai. For an O-X, use a Thai insurer and settle which benefit test applies.
7. Upload a photo from the past six months, proof of your current location, and the flight and hotel details the Non-O list requests.
8. After entry, count 90 days from the stamp and file the TM.7 extension before the permission ends.

Where the rest of the cash sits

The 800,000 baht, or the 3 million on an O-X, is a visa balance. After an 800,000 baht extension is granted, the bureau rule lets the balance fall to 400,000 baht only once three months have passed. Spending money can stay in a US account that still works after an address change, such as Charles Schwab, while the Thai balance does the visa job. Keeping a US brokerage is a separate project. The steps for a Fidelity account you want to leave in place are in what happens to a Fidelity account when you live abroad.

What do you file after you land?

A stay past 90 days has to be reported even when the visa is still valid. Under the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, a foreigner with temporary permission who remains more than 90 days must notify residence every 90 days. Bangkok Immigration allows an in-person notice, or a notice by someone you authorize, within 15 days before the due date or 7 days after it. The bureau handbook sets a late fine of 2,000 baht and requires a late notice to be made in person. Online TM.47 filing is only within 15 days of the due date and not less than 7 days before it. The Bangkok online manual says an overdue notice is refused online, that the fine rises to 5,000 baht if the person is apprehended, and that this notice is not an extension of stay.

A trip out of Thailand restarts the count on the day you return. The yearly extension is the other clock: a Thai bank letter, your passport, and TM.7, with the 800,000 baht still untouched if you are inside the seasoning window.

The US return does not stop

The visa does not change US filing. The IRS says the filing rules are generally the same abroad as at home, and that US citizens are taxed on worldwide income. A Thai bank account can be a foreign account that must be reported on FinCEN Form 114 when the total is over the reporting threshold, even if it pays no interest. Calendar-year filers abroad get an automatic two-month extension to file, from the regular 15 April date to 15 June, without a request. Interest still runs on tax unpaid by the regular due date.

For most Americans who cannot get an embassy income stamp, the workable file is at least 800,000 baht in a Thai commercial bank, seasoned two months under the bureau text or three months where the office matches Samut Prakan, then held three months after approval before it can fall to 400,000 baht. Buy the $100,000 policy on an O-A. Start with the 90-day Non-O if you would rather extend without that policy, and pay the official fee on thaievisa.go.th with working days to spare. Other monthly-budget tests sit with this rule under retirement abroad.

Data notes and sources checked

Figures were checked in October 2026 against embassy pages dated 1 September 2026 and 1 October 2026. The bureau extension PDF is the English criteria file linked from the retirement extension page. The Thailand.go.th restatement was updated 11 July 2023. Consulates disagree on lead time and on one combined-funds figure. Confirm the live checklist before you pay.

• Royal Thai Embassy, Washington: Non-Immigrant O-A
• Royal Thai Embassy, Washington: Non-Immigrant O-X
• Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles: O-A
• Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles: O, O-A, and O-X
• Thailand e-Visa: 90-day retirement category
• Immigration Bureau: retirement extension criteria
• U.S. Embassy Bangkok: income affidavits
• U.S. Embassy Bangkok: income-affidavit FAQ
• Medicare: travel outside the U.S.
• IRS: US citizens and resident aliens abroad
• Bangkok Immigration: 90-day notification

This is not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Fees, seasoning periods, and insurance certificates are applied by the post and the local office, and they change. Have a qualified professional check a file that involves work, a treaty position, or a large transfer before you rely on it.